More mismanagement issues arise at Citizens Insurance




















State regulators knocked Citizens Property Insurance Corp. this month for unnecessary travel costs, failing to negotiate on multimillion-dollar vendor contracts and spending more than $10,000 a month on vacant office space.

The Office of Insurance Regulation’s “market conduct examination” — which reviews Citizens’ operations over the last two years — offers the latest evidence of institutional problems at the mammoth state-run insurer.

According to the report, Citizens has mostly followed its policies, but in some cases those policies were too lax, leading to expensive repercussions for the company.





The report found that Citizens “does not appear to place any emphasis on price negotiation, instead relying on best and final offer” from its private contractors, who collect one-fifth of the $2 billion in annual premiums paid by policyholders.

Citizens is now pushing back against the state’s findings, arguing that it follows state law and has its own rigorous policies to get the best services at a competitive price.

“In situations not covered by [state law], Citizens conducts competitive solicitations using the same style of processes as state agencies (i.e., Invitations to Bid, Requests for Procurement and Invitations to Negotiate),” said spokesperson Christine Ashburn, in an email. Ashburn said Citizens president Barry Gilway has asked the state’s Insurance Commissioner to amend the report.

OIR also criticized Citizens for expensive travel and meals that surpassed federal and state guidelines for acceptable expenses. That finding comes on the heels of a Herald/Times investigation and a Chief Inspector General report highlighting lavish spending by executives, including $600-a-night hotel stays in Bermuda.

At the same time, Citizens has been squeezing homeowners by slashing coverage and raising rates, claiming that it does not have enough money to pay for a major hurricane strike.

“I really don’t get why they don’t have enough money,” said Gina Guilford, of Miami, whose homeowner’s insurance premium doubled last year. “Their rates have been rising steadily and there has been no major hurricane in years. Mismanagement is my guess. Why should any of us have to pay for a government-run insurance agency’s inability to manage funds and their employees?”

After media reports and the state’s Chief Inspector General documented Citizens’ corporate expenses, the company announced new policies to crack down on spending abuses.

Still, the OIR report fuels critics of Citizens and could hamper the efforts of some lawmakers who are determined pass major insurance reforms this year to help the state-run insurer raise its rates faster.

“This report further highlights the operational deficiencies, blatant disregard for state policies and lack of oversight and fiduciary responsibilities by Citizens Property Insurance,” said Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, in a statement.

Artiles has been critical of Citizens’ aggressive push to shrink its rolls and has been part of a coalition of South Florida Republicans and statewide Democrats voting against cost-hiking insurance legislation.

As Citizens seeks to shed many of its 1.3 million policies, it has been bogged down by a series of corporate scandals. Last year, Gov. Rick Scott twice called on his inspector general to investigate Citizens, after the Times/Herald reported on lavish travel spending and allegations of corporate misconduct. The company’s Office of Corporate Integrity was disbanded after it uncovered evidence of waste at the company, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance packages paid to executives who resigned amid scandal.





Read More..

Second-generation iPad mini could pack a display with 324 pixels per inch







Apple (AAPL) may be about to make up for delivering a disappointingly low resolution for its first-generation iPad mini display. BrightWire reports that supply chain sources have told Chinese website My Drivers that the next-generation iPad mini will indeed feature a 7.9-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, or 324 pixels per inch. For comparison, consider that the original iPad mini delivered a resolution of just 163 pixels per inch, less than both the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle Fire HD and the Google (GOOG) Nexus 7, which both featured displays with resolutions of 216 pixels per inch. BrightWire’s report also backs up earlier rumors we’ve heard about Apple choosing AU Optronics to make an HD Retina display for its next-generation iPad mini.


[More from BGR: iOS 6.1 untethered jailbreak now available for download, compatible with iPhone 5 and iPad mini]






This article was originally published on BGR.com


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Second-generation iPad mini could pack a display with 324 pixels per inch
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/second-generation-ipad-mini-could-pack-a-display-with-324-pixels-per-inch/
Link To Post : Second-generation iPad mini could pack a display with 324 pixels per inch
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Five Things You Don't Know About Bruno Mars

Known for his powerful voice and compelling live performances, Grammy nominee Bruno Mars is slated to join Rihanna and Sting for a special performance during this Sunday's Grammy Awards telecast. Here are five things you probably don't know about this talented crooner.

1. Born Peter Gene Bayot Hernandez on October 8, 1986 in Hawaii - he is of Puerto Rican and Filipino descent.

2. His catchy public name was inspired by famed professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino and the plant Mars.

PICS: Stars Set to Perform at Grammys

3. Began performing onstage as a toddler and at age 6, appeared in the 1992 comedy Honeymoon in Vegas playing a young Elvis impersonator.

4. Wrote the hit song F--- You for Cee Lo Green.

5. Named one of Time magazine's Top 100 most influential people of 2011.

VIDEO: Are Bruno Mars' Sisters Just As Talented?

Read More..

Jurors reject EAst Village bar terrorizer's insanity defense








It took a Manhattan jury less than four hours today to reject the insanity defense of a psychotic, racist gunman who had held an East Village wine bar hostage in June, 2002, announcing, "White people are going to burn tonight!"

Steven Johnson, an African American, AIDS-infected, unemployed Brooklyn barber, had spent the 40-minute siege pistol-whipping and holding guns to the throats of his 15 hostages, while ranting, "Die, mother f---ing cracker!" Johnson's previous two trials, at which he also used the insanity defense, ended in a mistrial and an overturned verdict; he now faces life in prison for kidnapping and attempted murder.




"White people must die and pay for what they have done to my people," the barbecue lighter-waving fiend had shouted at his terrified captives, all of whom were white.

He had left home that night ten years ago with a homemade catheter strapped to his leg, and a bag packed with dozens of plastic wrist cuffs, three handguns, a 30-inch sword, a barbecue lighter and a squirt bottle of kerosene.

Even before he barged into Bar Veloce on Second Avenue, he'd shot a young passerby, who was also white, on the street outside the bar. During the siege, he also shot a female hostage in the leg, and a sushi chef who'd peered into the bar to see what was going on.

The harrowing standoff only ended when the bezerk bigot was jumped by two female hostages, young women barely in their 20s who sprang into action even though they were bound at the wrists and soaked in kerosene. Both took the stand against him for the third time in December.

"Shoot him again!" Ann-Margret Gidley, now 33, remembered screaming to cops as she and fellow hero Annie Hubbard grappled with Johnson on the wine bar floor.

"They showed amazing bravery," one female juror, who declined to be named, said after today's verdict. "They were amazingly cool young women," she said. "They were pretty gutsy."

Johnson was quickly convicted today of the entire kidnapping and attempted murder case against him, save for the one count of attempted murder involving the shot Johnson fired at the sushi chef, who suffered a gunshot wound to the hand.

At each of his three trials, defense lawyers told jurors that Johnson, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and prosecutorial delusions, could not appreciate that his actions were wrong. The first trial deadlocked due to a lone, pro-acquittal holdout juror in 2004; the second resulted in a 240-year prison sentence, but the conviction was overturned on a technicality on appeal.

Defense lawyer Michelle Gelernt, who represented Johnson at all three trials, argued that Johnson did know that his actions were illegal, but suffered command hallucinations and believed that God had ordered and sanctioned his actions.

This trial had a new spin -- Johnson for the first time took the stand in his own defense, not doing himself any favors by telling jurors personally that he believed himself to be just fine.

"To be frank, I don't particularly agree with my defense as a delusion," Johnson had testified. "I'm perfectly sane."

"I didn't object to it because my advisor, who is God, told me to let it go," he explained of going along with the insanity defense.

"Everybody should be proud of me," he told jurors. "I stood up for my people. . .I didn't do this. God did this. He put the ideas in my head," he said, calling himself "the next Malcolm X."

On cross, though, assistant district attorney Steinglass reminded Johnson that days after the standoff, he had told a doctor at Rikers Island that, "White people killed my girlfriend and I am out for revenge." The girlfriend had died of AIDS, according to testimony.

Steinglass also reminded Johnson that during the standoff itself, he was caught on a 911 tape taunting cops and proclaiming that he was having "mad fun." When a female hostage started crying and praying, telling Johnson, "Jesus loves you," Johnson answered "Shut the f--- up" and kicked her repeatedly in the face. "Correct," Johnson answered when reminded of those kicks.

In one bizarre exchange, Steinglass asked Johnson whether God had told him specifically who he wanted killed.

"The enemies of my people," he answered.

"And who are the enemies of your people, Mr. Johnson?" the prosecutor asked.

"The white man," Johnson explained.

"All white men?"

"I said not all white men," Johnson answered.

"So how," the prosecutor asked, "do you decide which white men are worthy of killing?"

"They all look the same to me," he answered.

Sentencing has been set for March 8 by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald.










Read More..

Bright spots in Latin America despite global economic uncertainty




















There are bright spots as Latin American and Caribbean economies begin the year but the uncertain health of the U.S. economy, the lingering financial crisis in Europe and more sluggish growth in China are casting shadows over the region.

A decade ago, dim prospects in those major markets would have delivered a knock-out punch in the region, but this year Latin American and Caribbean economies are expected to grow by 3.5 percent and average 3.9 percent growth in 2014 and 2015, according to a World Bank forecast. The United Nations’ Economic Commission has a slightly more sanguine forecast of 3.8 percent growth in 2013.

Both are better than the 2.4 percent growth the World Bank is forecasting for the global economy and the mere 1.3 percent increase it is predicting for high-income countries.





The U.S. economy grew by 2.2 percent in 2012. But the economy shrank 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2013 also could be sluggish..

“That creates a soggy start for 2013 in Latin America,’’ said David Malpass, president of Encima Global, a New York economic consulting and research firm.

With a recession in Japan, even slower growth expected in Europe than in the United States, and questions about whether the dip in the Chinese economy has bottomed out and whether the United States will be making sharp cuts in defense spending and other federal programs come March 1, Latin American and Caribbean nations can’t really depend on the industrialized world to spur growth.

The region must look inward and undertake structural reforms that will allow growth from domestic factors, said Malpass, who was in Miami in January for an event organized by the University of Miami’s Center for Hemispheric Policy.

Panama’s $5.25 billion investment in expansion of the Panama Canal is an example of the inward focus that will pay off down the road, said Malpass. By 2015, Panama plans to have completed two new sets of locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal and the deepening and widening of existing channels to accommodate the so-called Post-Panamax ships too big to traverse the current locks.

“It’s a difficult period but a period where developing countries are growing solidly but not as quickly as they might otherwise want to,’’ said Andrew Burns, the lead author of the World Bank’s annual Global Economic Trends report.

That means they should focus on investment in infrastructure and healthcare, structural policies, regulatory reforms and improvements in governance that will pay future dividends down the road, Burns said.

Such economic reforms, plus high commodity prices enjoyed by countries with fertile fields and mineral wealth, helped the region move beyond the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 far more quickly than it did when it was so dependent on economic cycles in the rest of the world.

Economic growth slowed in Latin America and the Caribbean from 4.3 percent in 2011 to an estimated 3 percent but that was still better than the 1.3 percent growth high-income countries managed in 2012, according to The World Bank.

China will continue to play a major role in Latin America and the Caribbean this year but whether the slowdown in China has reached its low point is subject to debate. But it’s relative. Slow growth in China would be brisk growth elsewhere. China says its gross domestic product grew 7.8 percent in 2012, the most tepid growth in 13 years and a comedown from 9.3 percent growth in 2011.





Read More..

Motorcyclist killed in multi-car crash on Interstate 75 in Broward




















A motorcyclist was killed Sunday morning in an accident on Interstate 75 in Pembroke Pines.

The northbound cyclist, who was heading north on the highway around 5 a.m., slammed his 2011 Harley Davidson into the rear of an SUV just north of Pines Boulevard.

The impact sent the rider, who was not wearing a helmet, flying off his bike and onto the roadway, where he was struck by another oncoming vehicle. That driver, who did not realized what he had hit, drove on to the next exit where he called police.





I-75 was shutdown for hours as the Florida Highway Patrol conducted an investigation.

The name of the victim has not been released.





Read More..

BlackBerry searching high and low in India, Indonesia






NEW DELHI/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Research in Motion Ltd must chart a tough course in its two key emerging markets of India and Indonesia: quickly launch cheaper handsets to woo lower-end subscribers while restoring its tattered brand among the countries’ status-conscious.


The company, which is rebranding itself BlackBerry after its best-known smartphone, has won millions of followers in these two Asian countries, mostly by selling cheaper handsets and offering service packages as low as $ 2 a month. So it’s unlikely that the Z10 model introduced last week, which operators in India expect to sell for around $ 750, will appeal to the users it must reach if it is to build market share.






“It’s clear that not only are India and Indonesia among the largest markets but in terms of future smartphone growth, they’re amongst the ones with the most potential,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager at technology research group IDC in Singapore. “But the two devices that have been launched are not well aligned to the needs of these two markets.”


While the company does not break down its sales by country, data from IDC shows that Indonesia was BlackBerry’s biggest market outside the United States and Britain last year, while India was ninth.


ABI Research said that BlackBerry accounted for nearly half of Indonesia’s smartphone shipments in 2012. Compare this with a global share of just 5.3 percent. In India, the world’s second-largest mobile phone market, BlackBerry ranks third after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Nokia.


In both countries, young people are drawn by low-cost handsets allowing them to communicate for free on the BlackBerry Messaging Service (BBM). Almost all carriers offer services for the device. Indonesia’s XL Axiata Tbk PT, for example, saw a 45 percent jump in BlackBerry subscribers last financial year after offering packages for as little as 20 cents per day.


But this picture is changing rapidly.


The rise of messaging services such as WhatsApp that are not confined to any single operating system and the proliferation of cheap Android devices have diluted the BlackBerry’s appeal.


Mickey Nayoan, a 32-year old product designer in Jakarta, swapped his BlackBerry for a Samsung phone six months ago and isn’t missing it.


“I survived without BlackBerry because there’s WhatsApp,” he said. “More and more people use it and so I don’t need BBM anymore.”


At the same time, higher-end users have deserted what is increasingly seen as a low-end brand.


“When they came up with the cheaper versions, that took the allure off the brand for many Indonesians who are very status-conscious,” said Ong Hock Chuan, a Jakarta-based communications consultant.


ANDROID MAKES INROADS


While BlackBerry remained the number one smartphone brand in Indonesia in the second quarter of last year, the most recent period for which rankings were available, Android overtook it as the most popular operating system, according to IDC.


IDC said when it released the data last September that this was partly because of delays in the launch of the BlackBerry 10. The Z10 is likely to launch in the second half of February in India and in late March in Indonesia.


Data from StatCounter, a website which estimates mobile web traffic, shows BlackBerry’s share in Indonesia falling from about 20 percent in 2011 to about 5 percent last year.


On the other hand, carriers and users say, glitches with BlackBerry services and a perception that the brand has lost some of its luster mean that it will be hard to sell the Z10 and a keyboard model, the Q10, even to better-off users.


“It really depends on how BlackBerry 10 performs. If it can fix problems of previous BlackBerry (services) it could succeed in the market,” said Hasnul Suhaimi, CEO of Indonesia’s XL Axiata. But for now, he said, “it will just be about people swapping out existing devices.”


To reverse this, BlackBerry must announce cheaper devices quickly, analysts say. BlackBerry launched handsets designed on its old platform for just such users in India and Indonesia last year.


“The Z10… is obviously a high-end product and India is not a market at that price point,” said Anshul Gupta, an industry analyst at technology advisory firm Gartner in Mumbai. “We don’t know exactly what will be coming here, but I would expect them to launch different models in India which would give them more traction.”


(Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Mumbai and Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore; Writing by Jeremy Wagstaff; Editing by Emily Kaiser)


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: BlackBerry searching high and low in India, Indonesia
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/blackberry-searching-high-and-low-in-india-indonesia/
Link To Post : BlackBerry searching high and low in India, Indonesia
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Justin Timberlake Performs New Music 20 20 Experience

Justin Timberlake hit the stage to perform new music for the first time in ages on February 2 and much to the crowd's delight, JT proved the long wait was well worth it.


RELATED - Justin & Jessica's Long Road to The Altar 

At DIRECTV's Super Saturday Night party in New Orleans, La, Timberlake not only performed his latest single, Suit & Tie (complete with Jay-Z cameo), but he debuted two new songs: Little Pusher Love Girl and Bad Girl.


VIDEO - Watch Justin's Suit & Tie Lyric Video

Both tracks are slated to be on Timberlake's forthcoming third solo album, The 20/20 Experience, hitting stores on March 19.

Watch all JT's performances below!

Read More..

Deadly deserts









headshot

Ralph Peters









Violence in Allah’s name in northern Africa won’t end in my lifetime — and probably not in yours. The core question is: To what extent can the savagery be contained?

From the Atlantic coastline to the Suez Canal, struggling governments, impoverished populations and frankly backward societies struggle to find paths to modernization and to compete in a ruthless global economy. Religious fanatics for whom progress is a betrayal of faith hope to block development.

Still, if the only conflict was between Islamist terrorists and those who want civilized lives, the situation could be managed over time. But that struggle forms only one level in a layer cake of clashing visions and outright civil wars bedeviling a vast region. Much larger than Europe, the zone of contention encompasses the Maghreb, the countries touching the Mediterranean, and the Sahel, the bitterly poor states stretching down across desert wastes to the African savannah.





AFP/Getty Images



Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine





The Sahel is the front line not only between the world of Islam and Christian-animist cultures in Africa’s heart, but between Arabs and light-skinned tribes in the north, and blacks to the south. No area in the world so explicitly illustrates the late, great Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations.”

If racial and religious differences were not challenge enough, in the Maghreb the factions and interest groups are still more complicated. We view Egypt as locked in a contest between Islamists and “our guys,” Egyptians seeking new freedoms. But Egypt’s identity struggle is far more complex, involving social liberals, moderate Muslims, stern conservative Muslims (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and outright fanatics. The military forms another constituency, while the business community defends its selfish interests. Then there are the supporters of the old Mubarak regime, the masses of educated-but-unemployed youth and the bitterly poor peasants.

Atop all that there’s the question of whether the values cherished by Arab societies can adapt to a globalized world.

The path to Egypt’s future will not be smooth — yet Egypt’s chances are better than those of many of its neighbors. Consider a few key countries in the region:

Mali

Viva la France! (Never thought I’d write that in The Post.) Contrary to a lot of media nonsense, the effective French intervention in Mali demonstrates that not every military response to Islamist terror has to become another Afghanistan: The French are welcome.

As extremists invariably do, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies rapidly alienated their fellow Muslims — after hijacking a local uprising. The local version of Islam is far more humane and tolerant than the Wahhabi cult imposed by Islamist fanatics. To the foreign extremists, the Malian love of Sufi mysticism, ancient shrines and their own centuries of religious scholarship are all hateful — as is the Malian genius for music that’s pleased listeners around the world.



Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!










Read More..

Hollywood cardiologist’s ties with St. Jude sales rep raises red flags




















Mark Sabbota, a Hollywood cardiologist, regularly implants $5,000 pacemakers in patients at Memorial hospitals in South Broward — generating, last year alone, more than a half-million dollars in sales for a manufacturer called St. Jude Medical.

Sabbota, public records show, also happens to be partners with a St. Jude sales rep in two corporations that run frozen yogurt shops.

What’s yogurt got to do with healthcare?





Perhaps nothing. Perhaps a lot. The question is connected to an on-going lobbying battle in Washington over a pending disclosure policy intended to more clearly reveal financial ties between physicians and the healthcare industry — often-murky relationships that have produced a long history of whistle-blower lawsuits, federal investigations and fines.

Sabbota, in a brief interview, adamantly denied any conflict of interest. “There has been no wrongdoing at all,” he said.

Memorial spokeswoman Kerting Baldwin also said the hospital saw no problem with the yogurt arrangement. As a “community” doctor, not a staff employee, Baldwin said Sabbota can select from a list of pacemakers approved by the hospital but has no say over what companies made the list.

“As for why he prefers to use St. Jude, I won’t speak for him,’’ she said. “You’d have to ask him that.”

But several medical ethics experts said such relationships fall in a gray area. They raise what Kenneth Goodman, bioethics director at the University of Miami, called “red flags” about whether the doctor’s motivation in choosing a device “is something other than the best interests of the patient.”

“Maybe it’s just a good business arrangement that has nothing to do with the devices he chooses,” said Charles D. Rosen, a California physician who is co-founder of the Association for Medical Ethics. “But the issue is public disclosure and transparency. You as a patient should have the right to know about a doctor’s financial relationships with companies.”

Concerns about the relationship between doctors and healthcare companies have been simmering for years. Americans are so suspicious of doctors’ connections that, in a 2008 Pew Charitable Trusts survey, 86 percent of patients said doctors should not be allowed to get free dinners from drug makers and 70 percent said doctors shouldn’t even be allowed to get free notepads and pens.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act includes a provision intended to address some aspects of these often-cozy relationships. Starting Jan. 1, healthcare companies were supposed to publicly post how much they were paying doctors. But that provision has been held up in the White House by intense lobbying.

“I don’t know why the hold-up, except the intense opposition of the industry,” Rosen said. His group, including members of the Harvard Medical School and Cleveland Clinic, wrote a letter to the Obama administration last month protesting the delay.

The group complains that the healthcare industry is trying to soften the rules so that foreign subsidiaries and doctors engaged in clinical trials wouldn’t have to reveal payments. But even if the disclosure rules are implemented, a side deal like Sabbota’s yogurt company would not have to be revealed under the new law, Rosen said.





Read More..